728 BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 
acres of dried-up marshes and occasional lagoons shaded with pine- 
trees. On these reaches of still water innumerable wading birds are 
seen, and have a boldness of demeanour only accountable for by the 
supposition that man rarely comes here. Pelicans, Saddle-billed and 
Marabou Storks, Baleniceps rex, and Crowned Cranes are to be dis- 
tinctly seen amid theshort grass of the scattered pools.” And further 
on he adds, “‘On these sand-banks, amid the sleeping crocodiles, 
and apparently in no fear of them, were standing one or two whale- 
headed Storks and Spur-winged Geese. On my return from the 
Cunene to Lord Mayo’s hunting veldt, about forty miles off, I 
mentioned Balceniceps to him (Dr. Loesche) among the birds I had 
observed, and I believe he subsequently saw it there himself.” 
We have given Mr. Johnston’s observations in full, inasmuch as 
we think that the occurrence of Baleniceps in South-Western Africa 
requires strong confirmation. We find it difficult to believe that 
so remarkable a bird:should have escaped the researches of Senor 
Anchieta who resided for so many years at Humbe, and who was 
particularly careful to collect all the large Wading-birds for the 
Lisbon Museum. 
Fig. Parker, Trans. Z. S. iv, pl. 64. 
Fam. CICONIIDA. 
705. Crconta ALBA, D. White Stork. 
The Great Locust bird, as it is called by the colonists, is only a 
migratory visitant to the colony, following the flights of locusts, on 
which it feeds. It is not confined to any locality, but pursues its 
prey to all parts of the country. Our valued correspondent, Mrs. 
Barber, however, informs us that it breeds in the Interior. She 
writes as follows: ‘ My authority for saying that the White Locust 
Crane build their nests in the Interior is good, or I should not have 
mentioned it. When my brother Septimus was lion-hunting in the 
Free State, he saw the hills where great numbers of their old nests 
were. Mr. William Stubbs (of the Queen’s Town district), a great 
observer of Nature, and ‘a good man and true,’ is another of my 
authorities: he told us that he saw their nests upon the low rocky 
hills near St. John’s River. Like the small locust-birds, they 
always build their nests in the neighbourhood of large swarms of 
young locusts, so that they may have plenty of food for their young 
